Inferred profiles on online social networking systems using network graphs

ABSTRACT

An online social networking system collects data relating to members, and clusters the data into a plurality of clusters. The system identifies anomalous activity by a member in a cluster, and predicts an update to a profile of the member based on the identified anomalous activity of the member. The system presents to the member a proposed update to the profile of the member based on the prediction, receives input from the member in response to the proposed update, and updates the profile of the member based on the input received from the member.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field ofonline social networking systems, and in an embodiment, but not by wayof limitation, to an online social networking system that infers updatesto member profiles based on a network graph.

BACKGROUND

Online social networks provide members with the ability to connect andcommunicate with other members. Online social networks include apersonal profile for each member, which includes the educationalhistory, work history, and personal interests of the member. An onlinesocial network should provide the most up-to-date information onmembers. However, such profiles are many a times not up to date. Forexample, when a member of an online social network system switches to anew job, this often involves many tasks for the member, and the memberoften neglects to update his or her profile. For many members, it couldbe months before they update their profile. In the meantime, thepresence of outdated information reduces the relevance of the onlinesocial networking system's targeting systems (such as advertisements andjobs), reduces the quality of the system's paid searches (such assearches by a job recruiter), and makes it harder for members to findeach other.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments are illustrated bye way of example and not limitationin the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic flow of inferring anupdate to a member profile on an online social networking system;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating a cluster technique in anonline social networking system;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams illustrating operations and featuresof inferring an update to a member profile on an online socialnetworking system;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user interface in an online socialnetworking system;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the functional modules or components thatcomprise a computer network-based online social networking system,including application server modules consistent with some embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting some example application servermodules of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computing devicewithin which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed;and

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the training and use of a machine learningprogram, according to some example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the various aspects of different embodiments of thepresent invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in theart that the present invention may be practiced without all of thespecific details and/or with variations, permutations, and combinationsof the various features and elements described herein.

As a solution to the above-discussed issues relating to outdated onlineprofiles, an embodiment implements a method to intelligently infer amember's profile and to make suggestions to the member to simplify theprocess of updating his or her profile.

In an embodiment, an online social networking system detects when amember's profile is not up to date. When this is detected, the systemsurfaces (that is, determines and/or presents to a user) the mostprobable update to the member's profile, asks the member whether theproposed update is correct, and updates the member's profile if theproposed update is correct. In an embodiment, a social graph within theonline social networking system is leveraged to greatly increase suchdetections and predictions.

More specifically, in an embodiment, and referring to FIG. 1, at 110, anonline social networking system collects, over a time period, datarelating to members in the online social networking system, and thenclusters the data into a plurality of clusters. At 120, the memberbehavior is monitored for the time period, and at 130, the online socialnetworking system determines if there is any anomalous activity on theonline social networking system by a member in a cluster. If noanomalous activity is detected, control returns to operation 110. Ifanomalous activity is detected, then at 140, the system predicts anupdate to a profile of the member on the online social networking systembased on the identified anomalous activity of the member. If theprediction falls below a threshold (that is, the system is not entirelycertain about a proposed update), control returns to operation 120. Ifthe prediction exceeds the threshold, then at 150, the online socialnetworking system presents to the member a proposed update to theprofile of the member based on the prediction. Thereafter, the onlinesocial networking system receives input from the member in response tothe proposed update, and if the input is positive, the online socialnetworking system updates the profile of the member based on thepositive input received from the member.

One primary innovation and advantage of the process and system discussedin the previous paragraph is the use of a network graph on an onlinesocial networking system to detect when profiles are outdated. In anembodiment, the system uses a clustering method (e.g., k-means) toassociate similar members into groups. For this clustering, the systemcan use all available member features (e.g., current company, position,tenure, education, country, number of connections, last profile update,etc.). Within each of these groups, the system expects members to behavesimilarly. When the system detects that a single member in the group hasconnection patterns (or search or invitation patterns) that aredifferent from the rest of the group, the system flags this member as ananomaly. Then, for members flagged as an anomaly, the system tries topredict the new organization (or other profile data element that needsupdating) with which the member is associated as is disclosed in thefollowing paragraphs. Other relevant signals that can indicate that amember's profile is outdated can include the IP address that a member isusing (for example, the IP address has recently changed, andparticularly if it maps to a known corporate network), the amount oftime spent on the online social networking system, the activity of themember on the job posting section of the online social networkingsystem, the number of profiles viewed by the member, and the number ofmembers who have viewed the profile of the member.

This is illustrated in a simple, straightforward manner in FIGS. 2A and2B. FIG. 2A illustrates a first clustered group from on online socialnetwork. In this group, a particular member 210 is making 80% of his orher new connections with persons associated with Organization A. Noother member 220 in this group is exhibiting this high connection ratewith persons associated with Organization A. Such behavior can be deemedan anomaly. FIG. 2B illustrates another clustered group, wherein theparticular member 240 is making 80% of her new connections with personsassociated with Organization D. In contrast to the group in FIG. 2A,many other members 250 in the group are also making a high level oftheir new connections with persons associated with Organization D.Because many other members in this group are making many of these sameconnections, this is not considered an anomaly.

Once the system detects that a member has anomalous connection activity,the system attempts to predict the member's new organization (or otherchange to the member's profile data). The system uses a classifier thatis chosen based on performance when testing with historical data (forexample, logistic regression, gradient boosted trees, random forest,etc.). For each potential organization that a member could have becomeassociate with or will be soon associated with, the system assigns aprobability score to each potential organization and only surfaces (thatis, suggests to the member) predictions above a certain score.

FIG. 8 illustrates the training, classifying, and use of amachine-learning program 816, according to some example embodiments. Insome example embodiments, machine-learning programs, also referred to asmachine-learning algorithms or tools, are utilized to perform operationsassociated with inferring changes to a member's profile.

Machine learning is a field of study that gives computers the ability tolearn without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning explores thestudy and construction of algorithms, also referred to herein as tools,that may learn from existing data and make predictions about new data.Such machine-learning tools operate by building a model from exampletraining data 812 in order to make data-driven predictions or decisionsexpressed as outputs or assessments 820. Although example embodimentsare presented with respect to a few machine-learning tools, theprinciples presented herein may be applied to other machine-learningtools.

In some example embodiments, different machine-learning tools may beused. For example, Logistic Regression (LR), Naive-Bayes, Random Forest(RF), neural networks (NN), matrix factorization, and Support VectorMachines (SVM) tools may be used for classifying or scoring inferredprofile updates.

In general, there are two types of problems in machine learning:classification problems and regression problems. Classification problemsaim at classifying items into one of several categories (for example, isthis object an apple or an orange?). Regression algorithms aim atquantifying some items (for example, by providing a value that is a realnumber). In some embodiments, example machine-learning algorithmsprovide a ranking score (e.g., a number from 1 to 100) to qualify eachinferred attribute of a member's profile as a probable correct update.The machine-learning algorithms utilize the training data 812 to findcorrelations among identified features 802 that affect the outcome.

In one example embodiment, the features 802 may be of different typesand may include one or more of member features 804, job features 806,company features 808, and other features 810. The member features 804may include one or more of the data in the member profile 302, such astitle, skills, experience, education, and the like. The company features808 may include any data related to the company. In some exampleembodiments, additional features in the other features 810 may beincluded, such as post data, message data, web data, and the like.

With the training data 812 and the identified features 802, themachine-learning tool is trained at operation 814. The machine-learningtool appraises the value of the features 802 as they correlate to thetraining data 812. The result of the training is the trainedmachine-learning program 816.

When the machine-learning program 816 is used to perform an assessment,new data 818 is provided as an input to the trained machine-learningprogram 816, and the machine-learning program 816 generates theassessment 820 as output. For example, when an anomaly is detected in acluster, the assessment 820 includes the scores for the probability ofthe correctness of the inferred update to the member's profile.

More specifically, in order to train the classifier, the system can usea large variety of signals. If a member of the online social networkingsystem is connecting primarily with members of a single organization(and other members in the cluster are not), this increases theprobability score associated with the prediction that this member is nowassociated with this organization. If the member has connected topersons at the organization who have relatively few connections and/orare not very active on the online social networking system, this isindicative of an explicit intent, and increases the probability that themember has become associated with the organization. If the member hasconnected with a wide variety of persons across the organization, suchas persons from marketing, engineering, and human resources, this widevariety results in a higher probability value being assigned to theorganization. If the member connects to persons at the organizationwhose skills match with the member, this increases the probability valueassigned to the organization. If the member connects with organizationswhose employee summaries match or are similar to the member's, thisincreases the probability value assigned to this organization. The moreinteractions the member has with the organization, such as via profileviews, messaging, and applications for positions in the organization,the higher the probability value that will be assigned to theorganization. If the system determines that an organization takes on alot of people from the organization that the member is currentlyassociated with, this increases the probability value assigned to theorganization. The system takes into account the size of the organizationwith which the member is connecting, and the larger the organization,the lower the probability value that will be assigned to theorganization, because as the size of the organization increases, thisincreases the likelihood that the member is connecting to theorganization by chance, not because the member has become associatedwith the organization. The system takes into account the number ofopenings at the organization (by monitoring job postings or monitoringmember profiles from the organization), and a high number of openings atthe organization increases the probability value assigned to theorganization. The system takes into account the distance between themember's residence or current organization and the potentialorganization, such that a lower probability value is assigned to thepotential organization as the distance increases.

The foregoing factors and considerations can be illustrated by retuningto FIGS. 2A and 2B. In the first instance, as illustrated in FIG. 2A,the member 210 may be changing his or her association from OrganizationA to Organization B. It is noted that the member has Organization Alisted on his or her profile. The online social networking systemdetermines however that the member is connecting with a lot of peoplewho are associated with Organization B, and significantly more thanother persons 220 who are associated with Organization A. The systemfurther determines that the member is connecting with persons in allfunctions across Organization B. The system further determines viaexamining other members' profile updates that Organization B has beenbringing on multiple other members from Organization A, and that themember's skills match closely with other persons who are associated withOrganization B. All of this together helps the system's classifierpredict that the member is now associated with Organization B.

In the second instance, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, the social networkgraph may indicate that the member 240 is considering several differentorganizations with which to associate. For example, the member may havelisted on his or her profile an association with Organization C. Thesystem notices however that the member is connecting with a lot ofmembers from many different organizations, and significantly more thanthe other members 250 in his or her cluster group. Furthermore, themember is connecting primarily with a small community within eachorganization. The member may also have skills that match many of theorganizations where he or she is making connections. Based on thesedata, a trained model of the online social networking system will likelynot be very confident about exactly which organization to predict forthe member. In this instance, the system would monitor another week orso of activity and repeat the classification. Further in this instance,what might ultimately push one organization across the probabilitythreshold is if the system begins to observe repeated logins by themember from an organization's internal IP address.

For any embodiment of an online social networking system that predictsupdates to a member profile, as alluded to in the previous paragraph andin connection with FIG. 8, it is necessary to train a model usingexisting labeled data. This may be made easier because the online socialnetworking system may already have a large repository of behaviors formembers who change companies (or any organization) and actually doupdate their online profile. In such a case, the online socialnetworking system can collect a random subset of members who havechanged jobs (or positions) and who have updated their online profilewithin a certain time period of their posted start date at their neworganization, for example within four weeks of the posted start date atthe new organization. The online social networking system can thenanalyze the behavior of these members, particularly on the dimensionsdiscussed in the previous paragraphs (for example, the historical datamay show that a member connecting with members from a particular companywho have few connections increases the probability that the predictionthat the member is now employed by this particular company is correct).Based on this analysis, the system can tune the parameters for both ananomaly detection algorithm/model within a cluster and a predictionalgorithm/model (that is, predicting the member's new organization).

In an embodiment, the tuning uses a portion (training set) of thehistorical data on the online social networking system to calculate thefeature weights to get the best performing classifier. The system thenapplies the classifier to a different portion (testing set) of thehistorical data, and uses the testing set to find the true performanceof the current model. Based on the performance of the model, a thresholdvalue is set that indicates the confidence level at which the systemwill present the inferred company or organization to the member (forexample, the system only presents the inferred company to a member ifthe confidence/probability is greater than 80%). For example, the model,trained with historical data, may indicate that when a member connectswith members of an organization at a substantially higher rate thanother members in a cluster (e.g., at a ratio of 5 to 1), the historicaldata shows that 80% of the time the member has become associated withthis new organization. This probability can then be fused with othersignal probabilities (e.g., by a simple averaging), and an overallprobability can be determined.

While the functionality of updating a member's profile from a pastorganization to a current organization has been discussed, the systemcan use the same identifying, training, and modeling techniques to infera current organization to a member who did not identify an organizationwhen the member initially created his or her online profile. In such acase, the system can create a dummy organization for the member (e.g.,NULL) and then run the same detective and predictive algorithms/modelsto detect and predict the member's current organization.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a block diagram illustrating operations and featuresof an example system and method of inferring updates to members'profiles on an online social networking system. In various embodiments,the system and method may be implemented by one or more of the modulesor processors of FIG. 5 and/or FIG. 6. FIGS. 3A and 3B include a numberof process blocks 310-375. Though arranged substantially serially in theexample of FIGS. 3A and 3B, other examples may reorder the blocks, omitone or more blocks, and/or execute two or more blocks in parallel usingmultiple processors or a single processor organized as two or morevirtual machines or sub-processors. Moreover, still other examples canimplement the blocks as one or more specific interconnected hardware orintegrated circuit modules with related control and data signalscommunicated between and through the modules. Thus, any process flow isapplicable to software, firmware, hardware, and hybrid implementations.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 3A and 3B, at 310, an online socialnetworking system collects, over a time period, data relating to membersin the online social networking system. This collection of data is madepossible by the existence of profiles of members of the online socialnetworking system and connections among members on the system, which arecreated when a person becomes a member of the online social networkingsystem, and which is discussed in more detail in connection with FIG. 5.As indicated at 311, the connections are resident within a networkprofile graph of the online social networking system. At 320, the onlinesocial networking system clusters the data into a plurality of clusters(FIGS. 2A and 2B). This clustering can be based on any data in themembers' profiles, such as, for example, all members presently beingemployed by the same company. At 330, the online social networkingsystem identifies anomalous activity on the online social networkingsystem by a particular member in a particular cluster. As is discussedin more detail herein, this anomalous activity can be something such asthe particular member is connecting with many more persons from aparticular company than are other members in the cluster. At 340, thesystem predicts an update to a profile of the particular member on theonline social networking system based on the identified anomalousactivity of the particular member. As discussed above, this predictionis based on training a model with historic system data (and inparticular, members who have changed jobs or organizations and who haveupdated their profiles to reflect their new job or organization). At350, the online social networking system presents to the particularmember a proposed update to the profile of the particular member basedon the prediction. An example of a user interface that is used topresent the proposed update to the member is illustrated in FIG. 4. At360, the online social networking system receives input from theparticular member in response to the proposed update, and at 370, theonline social networking system updates the profile of the particularmember based on the input received from the particular member.Specifically, the online social networking system will update theprofile of the particular member if the member confirms that he or sheis now associated with the predicted company or organization.

At 321, it is noted that the clustering operation is a function of asimilarity or match between the particular member and members in acluster of one or more of an employer, a job position, a job tenure, aneducational institution, a geographical location, a number ofconnections, and a time period since a last update to a profile. Forexample, the cluster could be based on the fact that all the membersreside in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Thereafter, if one ofthe members begins connecting with other members whose profiles indicatethat they all reside in the Los Angeles area, this member may haverelocated to the Los Angeles area, and the online social networkingsystem can inquire of this member if this is indeed the case and if thesystem should update the member's profile.

At 331, the anomalous activity identified by the online socialnetworking system includes different changes in connection data of theparticular member (when compared with the changes in connection data ofother members in the cluster), different changes in invitation data(when compared with the changes in invitation data of other members inthe cluster), and/or different changes in search data of the particularmember (when compared with the changes in search data of other membersin the cluster). It is noted that the analysis of these differencesbetween the particular member and other members in the cluster occursduring a particular time period, such as during a particular week ormonth. Also, the invitation data that are analyzed can consist of bothincoming and outgoing invitation data, that is, invitations sent out toother members by the particular member and invitations sent to theparticular member by other members.

At 331A, it is noted that the different changes in the connection dataof the particular member include (once again, when compared with othermembers in the cluster an appearance or increase in the number ofconnections of the particular member to members from a particularorganization. The particular organization can be a business organizationor a company, but can also be an education institution, a charitableorganization, a hospital, or any other type of organization.

At 331B, it is noted that the anomalous activity, once again whencompared with other members in the cluster, relates to a different IPaddress used by the particular member, a different amount of time spenton the online social network system by the particular member, adifferent amount of time using a job search function on the onlinesocial networking system, and a different number of profile views of theparticular member by other members and a different number of profileviews of other members by the particular member on the online socialnetworking system. Regarding the different IP address, the particularmember and the other members in the cluster may have been groupedtogether in the clusters because they all are employed by the samecompany. However, while the particular member's profile may indicatethat he or she is employed by that company, the IP address associatedwith the member's email may indicate that he or she is no longerassociated with that company (e.g., the member's current email addressmay be member.name@newcompany.com). Upon determining this information,the online social networking system can act accordingly in making aprediction and profile update recommendation to the member.

At 341, the operation of the prediction of the update to the profile ofthe particular member is a prediction of a new organization with whichthe particular member has become associated. As noted elsewhere herein,this prediction can be based on anomalous activity of the particularmember as compared with other members in a cluster. Then, at 341A, theonline social networking system transmits an inquiry to the particularmember to determine whether the particular member has actually becomeassociated with the new organization. That is, the online socialnetworking system attempts to verify its prediction that the particularmember has moved to this new organization. Then, at 341B, if theparticular member indicates that he or she has become associated withthe new organization, the online social networking system modifies theprofile of the particular member to include the new organization as theparticular member's current organization (e.g., the particular member'scurrent employer).

At 342, the prediction of the update to the profile of the particularmember by the online social networking system involves classifying ofthe clustered data using one or more of logistic regression, gradientboosted trees, and random forest. At 342A, as noted previously, theclassifying further includes training a model as a function of aplurality of factors. These factors can include that the particularmember is connecting with persons associated with a particularorganization, a count of the number of connections by members with whomthe particular member is connecting, a breadth of connections within theparticular organization by the particular member, a skill match betweenthe particular member and connections of the particular member, asimilarity between summaries of the particular member and connections ofthe particular member, an interaction with the particular organizationby the particular member on the online social networking system, a flowof other members from a current organization of the particular member toanother organization, a size of an organization with whom the member isconnecting, a count of the number of openings at the particularorganization, an amount of time spent on the online social networkingsystem by the member, a number of profile views by the member, a numberof views of the profile of the member by other members, and ageographical distance between the current organization of the member andthe organization with which the member is connecting.

At 343, the online social networking system generates a plurality ofpredicted updates to the profile of the particular member, generates aprobability score for each predicted update, and presents one or more ofthe predicted updates to the particular member based on a probabilityscore threshold. As indicated elsewhere herein, different factors areconsidered to have a different effect on the likeliness that theprediction of the online social networking system is correct. Forexample, in connection with training the classifier, if there is asignal on the system that a member of the online social networkingsystem is connecting primarily with members of a single company (andother members in the cluster are not), this increases the probabilityscore associated with the prediction that this member is now associatedwith this single company. As noted, the system can train a predictivemodel using historical data of members who have changed jobs and alsoupdated their profiles, and based on the trained model the system candetermine which signals are more important than others, which signalsincrease a probability score, which signals decrease a probabilityscore, and the magnitudes of such increases or decreases.

At 375, after receiving confirmation from the member and updating theprofile of the member, the online social networking system provides theupdated profile of the particular member to one or more products of theonline social networking system. Examples of products of the onlinesocial networking system could be suggesting job openings to the memberand/or suggesting other members to connect with on the online socialnetworking system. In this manner, the one or more products on theonline social networking system can provide a new or updated service tothe particular member based on the updated profile of the particularmember. For example, if the particular member's updated profile nowincludes the current company with which the member is now employed, theonline social networking system can recommend that the particular memberconnect with other members who are employed by the member's new currentcompany. In this manner, the functioning of the computer and the onlinesocial networking system is improved.

The foregoing systems and methods can be executed on an online socialnetworking system as is illustrated in FIG. 5. Specifically, FIG. 5 is ablock diagram of the functional modules or components that comprise acomputer-based or network-based online social networking system 10consistent with some embodiments of the above-described systems andmethods. As shown in FIG. 5, the online social networking system 10 isgenerally based on a three-tiered architecture, comprising a front-endlayer, application logic layer, and data layer, and can communicate witha client device 8. As is understood by skilled artisans in the relevantcomputer and Internet-related arts, each module or engine shown in FIG.5 represents a set of executable software instructions and thecorresponding hardware (e.g., memory and processor) for executing theinstructions. To avoid obscuring the present subject matter withunnecessary details, various functional modules and engines that are notgermane to conveying an understanding of the present subject matter havebeen omitted from FIG. 5. However, a skilled artisan will readilyrecognize that various additional functional modules and engines may beused with an online social networking service, such as that illustratedin FIG. 5, to facilitate additional functionality that is notspecifically described herein. Furthermore, the various functionalmodules and engines depicted in FIG. 5 may reside on a single servercomputer, or may be distributed across several server computers invarious arrangements. Moreover, although depicted in FIG. 5 as athree-tiered architecture, the present subject matter is by no meanslimited to such architecture.

As shown in FIG. 5, the front end comprises a user interface module(e.g., a web server) 14, which receives requests from variousclient-computing devices, and communicates appropriate responses to therequesting client devices. For example, the user interface module(s) 14may receive requests in the form of Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP)requests, or other web-based, application programming interface (API)requests. The client devices may be executing conventional web browserapplications, or applications that have been developed for a specificplatform to include any of a wide variety of mobile devices andoperating systems.

As shown in FIG. 5, the data layer includes several databases, includingone or more databases 16 for storing data relating to various entitiesrepresented in a social graph. With some embodiments, these entitiesinclude members, companies, and/or educational institutions, amongpossible others. Consistent with some embodiments, when a personinitially registers to become a member of the online social networkingservice, and at various times subsequent to initially registering, theperson will be prompted to provide some personal information, such ashis or her name, age (e.g., birth date), gender, interests, contactinformation, home town, address, the names of the member's spouse and/orfamily members, educational background (e.g., schools, majors, etc.),current job title, job description, industry, employment history,skills, professional organizations, and so on. This information isstored as part of a member's profile, for example, in the database withreference number 16. With some embodiments, a member's profile data willinclude not only the explicitly provided data, but also any number ofderived or computed member profile attributes and/or characteristics.

Once registered, a member may invite other members, or be invited byother members, to connect via the online social networking service. A“connection” may require a bi-lateral agreement by the members, suchthat both members acknowledge the establishment of the connection. Thedegree of connectivity refers to the amount or number of connectionsthat exist for a particular person and/or the amount or number ofconnections among a group of persons. Similarly, with some embodiments,a member may elect to “follow” another member. In contrast toestablishing a “connection”, the concept of “following” another membertypically is a unilateral operation, and at least with some embodiments,does not require acknowledgement or approval by the member that is beingfollowed. When one member follows another, the member who is followingmay receive automatic notifications about various activities undertakenby the member being followed. In addition to following another member, auser may elect to follow a company, a topic, a conversation, or someother entity. In general, the associations and relationships that amember has with other members and other entities (e.g., companies,schools, etc.) become part of the social graph data maintained in adatabase 18. With some embodiments a social graph data structure may beimplemented with a graph database 18, which is a particular type ofdatabase that uses graph structures with nodes, edges, and properties torepresent and store data. In this case, the social graph data stored indatabase 18 reflects the various entities that are part of the socialgraph, as well as how those entities are related with one another.

With various alternative embodiments, any number of other entities mightbe included in the social graph, and as such, various other databasesmay be used to store data corresponding with other entities. Forexample, although not shown in FIG. 5, consistent with some embodiments,the system may include additional databases for storing informationrelating to a wide variety of entities, such as information concerningvarious online or offline groups, job listings or postings, photographs,audio or video files, and so forth.

With some embodiments, the online social networking service may includeone or more activity and/or event tracking modules, which generallydetect various user-related activities and/or events, and then storeinformation relating to those activities/events in the database withreference number 20. For example, the tracking modules may identify whena user makes a change to some attribute of his or her member profile, oradds a new attribute. Additionally, a tracking module may detect theinteractions that a member has with different types of content. Suchinformation may be used, for example, by one or more recommendationengines to tailor the content presented to a particular member, andgenerally to tailor the user experience for a particular member.

The application logic layer includes various application server modules22, which, in conjunction with the user interface module(s) 14, generatevarious user interfaces (e.g., web pages) with data retrieved fromvarious data sources in the data layer. With some embodiments,individual application server modules 22 are used to implement thefunctionality associated with various applications, services andfeatures of the online social networking service. For instance, amessaging application, such as an email application, an instantmessaging application, or some hybrid or variation of the two, may beimplemented with one or more application server modules 22. Of course,other applications or services may be separately embodied in their ownapplication server modules 22.

The online social networking service may provide a broad range ofapplications and services that allow members the opportunity to shareand receive information, often customized to the interests of themember. For example, with some embodiments, the online social networkingservice may include a photo sharing application that allows members toupload and share photos with other members. As such, at least with someembodiments, a photograph may be a property or entity included within asocial graph. With some embodiments, members of an online socialnetworking service may be able to self-organize into groups, or interestgroups, organized around a subject matter or topic of interest.Accordingly, the data for a group may be stored in a database. When amember joins a group, his or her membership in the group will bereflected in the social graph data stored in the database with referencenumber 18. With some embodiments, members may subscribe to or joingroups affiliated with one or more companies. For instance, with someembodiments, members of the online social networking service mayindicate an affiliation with a company at which they are employed, suchthat news and events pertaining to the company are automaticallycommunicated to the members. With some embodiments, members may beallowed to subscribe to receive information concerning companies otherthan the company with which they are employed. Here again, membership ina group, a subscription or following relationship with a company orgroup, as well as an employment relationship with a company, are allexamples of the different types of relationships that may exist betweendifferent entities, as defined by the social graph and modeled with thesocial graph data of the database with reference number 18.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of several example modules that can make upthe application server modules 22 of FIG. 5. A data collection module201 collects data relating to members in the online social networkingsystem 10. A clustering module 202 clusters the data into a plurality ofclusters. An identifying module 203 identifies anomalous activity on theonline social networking system by a particular member in a particularcluster. A prediction module 204 predicts an update to a profile of theparticular member on the online social networking system based on theidentified anomalous activity of the particular member. A display module205 presents to the particular member a proposed update to the profileof the particular member based on the predicting. A reception module 206receives input from the particular member in response to the proposedupdate. A modification module 207 updates the profile of the particularmember based on the input received from the particular member.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a machine in the form of a computer systemwithin which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. In apreferred embodiment, the machine will be a server computer, however, inalternative embodiments, the machine may be a personal computer (PC), atablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), amobile telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 700 includes a processor 702 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 701 and a static memory 706, which communicate witheach other via a bus 708. The computer system 700 may further include adisplay unit 710, an alphanumeric input device 717 (e.g., a keyboard),and a user interface (UI) navigation device 711 (e.g., a mouse). In oneembodiment, the display, input device and cursor control device are atouch screen display. The computer system 700 may additionally include astorage device 716 (e.g., drive unit), a signal generation device 718(e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 720, and one or moresensors 721, such as a global positioning system sensor, compass,accelerometer, or other sensor.

The drive unit 716 includes a machine-readable medium 722 on which isstored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g.,software 723) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The software 723 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 701and/or within the processor 702 during execution thereof by the computersystem 700, the main memory 701 and the processor 702 also constitutingmachine-readable media.

While the machine-readable medium 722 is illustrated in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” mayinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that storethe one or more instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing,encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresent invention, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carryingdata structures utilized by or associated with such instructions. Theterm “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include,but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magneticmedia. Specific examples of machine-readable media include non-volatilememory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g.,EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internalhard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM andDVD-ROM disks.

The software 723 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 726 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 720 utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), theInternet, mobile telephone networks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS)networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Wi-Fi® and WiMax® networks).The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the machine, and includes digital or analog communicationssignals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of suchsoftware.

Although embodiments have been described with reference to specificexamples, it will be evident that various modifications and changes maybe made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spiritand scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawingsare to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.The accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, show by way ofillustration, and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which thesubject matter may be practiced. The embodiments illustrated aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the teachings disclosed herein. Other embodiments may beutilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logicalsubstitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scopeof this disclosure. This Detailed Description, therefore, is not to betaken in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments isdefined only by the appended claims, along with the full range ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled.

1. A process comprising: collecting, over a time period, data relating to members in an online social networking system; clustering the data into a plurality of clusters; identifying anomalous activity on the online social networking system by a particular member in a particular cluster; predicting an update to a profile of the particular member on the online social networking system based on the identified anomalous activity of the particular member; presenting to the particular member a proposed update to the profile of the particular member based on the predicting; receiving input from the particular member in response to the proposed update; and updating the profile of the particular member based on the input received from the particular member.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the anomalous activity comprises, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, different changes in connection data of the particular member, different changes in invitation data of the particular member, or different changes in search data of the particular member, during the time period.
 3. The process of claim 2, wherein the different changes in the connection data of the particular member comprises, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, an appearance or increase in a number of connections of the particular member to members from a particular organization.
 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the anomalous activity, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, relates to one or more of a different IP address used by the particular member, a different amount of time spent on the online social network system by the particular member, a different amount of time using a job function on the online social networking system, and a different number of profile views of the particular member and a different number of profile views by the particular member on the online social networking system.
 5. The process of claim 1, wherein the predicting the update to the profile of the particular member comprises predicting a new organization with which the particular member has become associated.
 6. The process of claim 5, comprising: transmitting an inquiry to the particular member to determine whether the particular member has become associated with the new organization; and modifying the profile of the particular member to include the new organization when the particular member indicates that he or she has become associated with the new organization.
 7. The process of claim 1, comprising applying the updated profile of the particular member to one or more products of the online social networking system such that the one or more products can provide an improved service to the particular member based on the updated profile of the particular member.
 8. The process of claim 1, wherein the clustering is a function of a similarity or match between the particular member and members in a cluster of one or more of an employer, a job position, a job tenure, an educational institution, a geographical location, a number of connections, and a time period since a last update to a profile.
 9. The process of claim 1, wherein the predicting the update to the profile of the particular member comprises classifying the clustered data using one or more of logistic regression, gradient boosted trees, and random forest.
 10. The process of claim 9, wherein the classifying comprises training a model as a function of one or more of the particular member connecting with persons associated with the particular organization, a number of connections by members with whom the particular member is connecting, a breadth of connections within the particular organization by the particular member, a skill match between the particular member and connections of the particular member, a similarity between summaries of the particular member and connections of the particular member, an interaction with the particular organization by the particular member on the online social networking system, a flow of members from a current organization of the particular member to the particular organization, a size of the particular organization, a number of openings at the particular organization, an amount of time spent on the online social networking system by the particular member, a number of profile views by the particular member, a number of views of the profile of the particular member by other members, and a geographical distance between the current organization of the particular member and the particular organization.
 11. The process of claim 1, comprising generating a plurality of predicted updates to the profile of the particular member, generating a probability score for each predicted update, and presenting one or more of the predicted updates to the particular member based on a probability score threshold.
 12. The process of claim 1, wherein the connections are resident within a network profile graph of the online social networking system.
 13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor execute a process comprising: collecting, over a time period, data relating to members in an online social networking system; clustering the data into a plurality of clusters; identifying anomalous activity on the online social networking system by a particular member in a particular cluster; predicting an update to a profile of the particular member on the online social networking system based on the identified anomalous activity of the particular member; presenting to the particular member a proposed update to the profile of the particular member based on the predicting; receiving input from the particular member in response to the proposed update; and updating the profile of the particular member based on the input received from the particular member.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the anomalous activity comprises, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, different changes in connection data of the particular member, different changes in invitation data of the particular member, or different changes in search data of the particular member, during the time period; and wherein the different changes in the connection data of the particular member comprises, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, an appearance or increase in a number of connections of the particular member to members from a particular organization.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the anomalous activity, when compared with other members in the particular cluster, relates to one or more of a different IP address used by the particular member, a different amount of time spent on the online social network system by the particular member, a different amount of time using a job function on the online social networking system, and a different number of profile views of the particular member and a different number of profile views by the particular member on the online social networking system.
 16. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the predicting the update to the profile of the particular member comprises predicting a new organization with which the particular member has become associated; and comprising: transmitting an inquiry to the particular member to determine whether the particular member has become associated with the new organization; and modifying the profile of the particular member to include the new organization when the particular member indicates that he or she has become associated with the new organization.
 17. A system comprising: a computer processor; and a computer memory coupled to the computer processor; wherein the computer processor is operable for: collecting, over a time period, data relating to members in an online social networking system; clustering the data into a plurality of clusters; identifying anomalous activity on the online social networking system by a particular member in a particular cluster; predicting an update to a profile of the particular member on the online social networking system based on the identified anomalous activity of the particular member; presenting to the particular member a proposed update to the profile of the particular member based on the predicting; receiving input from the particular member in response to the proposed update; and updating the profile of the particular member based on the input received from the particular member.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the system is operable for applying the updated profile of the particular member to one or more products of the online social networking system such that the one or more products can provide an improved service to the particular member based on the updated profile of the particular member.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the clustering is a function of a similarity or match between the particular member and members in a cluster of one or more of an employer, a job position, a job tenure, an educational institution, a geographical location, a number of connections, and a time period since a last update to a profile.
 20. The system of claim 17, wherein the predicting the update to the profile of the particular member comprises classifying the clustered data using one or more of logistic regression, gradient boosted trees, and random forest. 